Improvement in apparatus for rectifying



E. CAMPBELL.

Alcohol Still.

No. 20,760. Patented June 29, I858 UNITED STATES PATENT, Orrlcn.

ETHAN CAMPBELL, OAMBRIDGEPORT, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO HENRY THAYER, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR RECTIFYING.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 20,760, dated June 29, 1858.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ETHAN CAMPBELL, of Gambridgeport, in the county of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Apparatus for Distilling and Evaporating in Vacuo; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, making a part of this specification, and to the letters of reference thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in so arranging and combining a distillatory apparatus as to perform all operations of distilling, rectifying, and evaporating in a simple manner and in a vacuum, thus gaining in lessened expense for heat, in rapidity of production, and purity of product.

The apparatus is constructed of copper, well tinned in the interior, and consists of a vacuum-pan, A, vapor-column B, two condensers, G and D, two receivers, E E, vaporpipe F, and ebullition-pan G, with their connections.

The references in the drawings are as follows: A, vacuum-pan; B, column; 0, horizo1ital condenser; D, perpendicular condenser; E E, receivers; F, simple distillationpipe; Gr, ebullition-pipe; I I I, return-pipes; J, return-pipe to upper condensor; a, man-hole; b, dischargecook; c c, supply-pipes; (Z d d, cocks to empty column; 0 e e, pipes connecting chambers in column; ff, barometer-pipes; g g, steam-pipe, h h, vacuum pipe leading to air-pump x; i i, cold-water pipe; 3' j, direction and exit of water; It, thermometer.

The figures refer to the stopcock.

The method of operating the apparatus is as follows:

For simple distillation, the vacuum-panA being charged with the liquid to be operated upon, the cocks 1 2 3 are closed, shutting off the column and upper condenser, and 2 2 4 are opened, 6 6 are closed, and 5 5 opened. The man-hole and other cocks are closed to shut off communication with the external atmosphere. The air-pump being set in motion, the barometer soon shows a vacuum of twenty-six to twenty-eight inches, steam being thrown through the coil at g, or applied by a steamjacket, the liquid boils, the vapor ascends through E, is condensed at D, and falls into the receiver Ee. If the liquid has a tendency to boil over, the enlarged space at the ebullition-pan G causes it to settle away and return to the pan at J J.

For nice distillation and rectification, the vapor is sent into the column, which is divided into chambers connected by perpendicular tubes. As the vapor reaches the lower chamber it condenses and returns through I into the pan. As this chamber becomes heated the vapor is thrown into the next, where it condenses and forms a layer of liquid to the top of the connectingtube. This soon boils, and the operation is repeated in the next chamber until the whole column is at work. From the top chamber the vapor goes to the upper condenser, G, which is a horizontal coil connected at the interior part of each coil with a horizontal tube discharging into the column or vacuum-pan. This coil is surrounded by the water from the lower condenser, and which is warmed by the vapor there finally condensed. Such liquid as is condensed at 0 falls into the return-pipe J, and thence finds its way to the vacuum-pan, to undergo redistillation. The uncondensed vapor flows on to the perpendicular condenser, where it is finally condensed and falls into the receiver. Cold water enters the condenser at z, rises to the upper condenser at j, and flows off at the end of the pipej. Any suitable condenser may be substituted for the one represented at D.

For rectifying ether and chloroform, the. pan being charged with the liquid to be operated upon, the tops of the receivers are covered with a freezing-mixture, when the application of a degree of heat so small as to be barely perceptible produces ether of chem ical purity.

I do not claim that the pan-condensers, column, or receivers are of my invention but I claim the general combination of the different parts with the attachment of the airpump, so as to produce the effects described.

What I claim as my invention is- Oombining with the rectifying-column. B I

the vertical discharge-pipe j and the series of horizontal pipes which connect it with th column B, as set forth.

E. CAMPBELL.

Witnesses:

R. LITOHFIELD, J r. J USTIN A. JACOBS. 

